Digimon Adventure 02 Rewritten
by Shotguner159
Summary: When the gate to the Digital World reopens three years after the Apocalymon battle and a human threatens the Digital World, what are the DigiDestined and their three new recruits meant to do? A Digimon Adventure 02 rewrite.
1. Chapter 1

'_We've all grown up a lot since that summer in the Digital World. Tai's in charge of a football club, Matt's joined a band, Sora's switched football for tennis, Izzy's still on top of everything computer related, Mimi's gotten into cooking and Joe's decided to become a doctor, but on his own terms, Kari's gotten into photography and I'm moving back to Odiaba, so I'll be able to meet up with everyone more often! But little did any of us know, what happened three years ago, was just the beginning._

* * *

><p>"Run for your lives, it's the evil Digimon Emperor!" At the sound of that frantic cry, every single one of the Digimon in the area panicked, and a human boy standing on a hill chuckled darkly. He had messy, two-toned blue hair, and wore glasses with a yellow frame and purple lenses. The human had a dark blue cape with yellow shoulder pads on, beneath which he wore a blue and white jumpsuit. His hands were covered by black gloves, and in his right hand he carried a thick leather whip. This human was the aforementioned Digimon Emperor, and all the Digimon in the area had a valid reason to run in terror from this unassuming boy whom they could all take down with ease.<p>

The Digimon Emperor cracked the whip on the ground and a huge black obelisk rose up behind him. The whip was cracked again, and hundreds of large black rings flew out from the recently arisen tower. They chased after the hastily fleeing Digimon and a brief moment of hesitance was all the flying devices needed to ensnare themselves around the unfortunate souls. A large grey rabbit with a white belly was trapped when he glanced back at the floating ring, a short and stocky man made of stone was unlucky enough to trip up on a tree root and was rewarded for his clumsiness by the sound of a ring clicking itself around his waist and a winged unicorn wearing a red mask had a ring wrap itself around his neck when he dived to avoid another ring.

Red writing flashed around each of the rings, and all the Digimon screamed with pain when it did so. When the writing disappeared, all of the unfortunate Digimon's eyes had turned red and feral, and they fired attacks at any of their brethren nearby who had escaped the assault, which gave the rings time enough to wrap themselves round those Digimon too.

In the midst of all this was a white cat Digimon wearing yellow gloves on her hands and a golden ring on her blue-striped tail. She ran frantically from the area, desperately attempting to ensure her safety. The cat Digimon knew of a time when an uppity boy such as this would not have even fazed her and her friends, but those days were long gone, and she was filled with shame that she had been reduced to running from her foe. She glanced back, and saw a ring rapidly closing the gap between them. She panicked, and tried to go even faster, but she was already pushing herself to her limits. Just as the cat Digimon was about to be trapped, the ring on her tail glowed, causing the flying device to lose all power, and it fell harmlessly to the ground beside her.

"That was close." The cat murmured, as she stared at the gold band on her tail. Her moment of respite was interrupted by the recently trapped winged unicorn emerging from the shadows and opening its mouth,

"**Horn Blaster!**" It formed a blue-ish white sphere in its mouth, and fired it at the cat.

The female cat had no time to even attempt to dodge and so took the attack full on. She was sent flying backwards several feet and groaned with pain. But the cat was a seasoned battler, and knew that she could waste no time licking her wounds, and so jumped out of the way of another energy orb.

"Unimon, I'm sorry. But you've been captured, and if one human can get here, so can others, and I'll be damned if I don't get to see Kari again." The cat hissed sorrowfully at the Unimon, but didn't let the winged beast get in another attack by launching herself at him.

"**Lightning Paw!**" The cat landed a sharp blow to the side of its face, stunning the Unimon.

"**Lightning Kick! Wild Scratch! Lightning Paw!**" The cat followed her initial attack up by throwing punches, kicks and scratches across the entire body of the Unimon, and the winged unicorn was unable to fight back, each blow stunning him enough that it couldn't launch an attack of its own.

The Unimon couldn't survive the relentless assault, and not long after it began, the winged beast slumped into unconsciousness. The cat glanced once at the pegasus' beaten body, but wasted no time in continuing her escape from the area, eager to avoid capture by the floating black rings, only sorry that she didn't have to time to free the fallen beast.

* * *

><p>It was a beautiful morning in Odiaba, Japan. The sun was shining, the air was filled with birds singing and-<p>

"You're going to be late for school TK, hurry up and finish your breakfast!" And the sound of a mother making sure her son would be on time for his first day at a new school.

"New school, new apartment, but the same old lumpy oatmeal." The boy sighed, and pushed his bowl away from him. He had messy blonde hair, and wore a green and yellow shirt with darker green shorts. "I'm done mom, I'm leaving!"

"I'm sorry I can't drive you to school on your first day, but I have to finish this article before the deadline." His mother apologised to him, but the boy knew she needed to get this done.

"It's okay, I'll walk." And with that, he grabbed his black bag, shoved his favourite hat, a white fishing one, on his head and left their apartment with a cry of "See you later!"

Not long after he called for the lift, it came down to his level. Inside was a lavender haired girl around his age, wearing glasses and pink cardigan covering a red shirt, and a much younger brown haired boy wearing a purple shirt. The girl made a surprised noise, and both turned to look at him.

"How's it going?" The boy greeted them causally.

"Fine, thank you." The girl nodded her head at him and replied politely.

"Great!" The blonde boy smiled. "My name's TK, and my mom and I just moved into the building. I'm in seventh grade, class A, nice to meet you."

The girl brightened instantly. "Oh hi! My name is Yolei. Would you like to walk to school with us? We can talk as we walk, so we'll be able to get to know each other better. It'll be fun" Yolei gestured to the boy next to her. "Oh, and this is Cody."

"Welcome to the building TK, now come on - we don't want to be late on our first day." Cody smiled back at the older boy.

"Let's do it." TK nodded at the both of them, and the lift closed behind him and carried on down towards the ground floor of the building.

* * *

><p>"Hey Yolei, can you come over after school and fix my computer again?" Cody asked the lavender haired girl as they neared the school gates.<p>

"Only if I get some of your mom's brownies, you know how much I love them!" Yolei bartered, always ready to jump on a chance for some of his mom's delicious brownies.

"Sure, she always makes extra anyway." Cody grinned. She didn't really, but he'd already asked her to make some for Yolei, having guessed what his friend would want in exchange for her services.

As the trio walked through the gate, they heard the sounds of a football game being played. TK glanced at the players briefly, but stopped dead when he saw sunlight glittering on a player's forehead - more specifically, on a player's goggles.

'_Tai?' _TK stared at the goggle-wearing football player. Goggles sure, but the hair was much shorter and a different shade of brown. _'Besides, he's in high school now. I'm seeing things.'_

"Here you go Davis!" One of the other players called out, but that player's aim was VERY poor, and instead of going to the Tai-wannabe, it went sailing over his head, and TK hadn't caught it, it would've gone out into the road.

"Thanks. Great catch." Davis walked up to TK, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"You look familiar." TK smiled, and tossed the ball to the football player. "Must be the goggles." And with that TK walked away laughing softly to himself, shaking his head thinking to himself _'How could I ever have mistaken that kid for Tai? Tai's in high school now'_.

Davis stood there in shock for several seconds, until he was yelled at for holding up the game. Then he snapped out of it, and booted the ball again.

* * *

><p>Just as the bell was ringing for the first class of the day, Davis walked into his classroom. He sighed with relief when he saw his crush was still in the same class as him.<p>

"What luck, you're in my class again Kari!" He called out to her as he went to sit down on the desk to her right. His crush stood and turned to face him. She hadn't changed much over the holiday, still wearing pink and yellow, and still wearing the camera around her neck

Kari smiled at him. "I wouldn't call that luck." And she sat down at her desk, eager to start the lesson for some reason.

"Hey, the weirdest thing just happened. This new kid said I reminded him of someone. Probably thinks I'm a movie star." Davis grinned at the brown haired girl in front of him, but she just cocked her head and made a "huh" noise.

* * *

><p>An orange dinosaur fell to the floor and grunted with pain. He had been running all day, and was out of energy. He staggered back to his feet and started to try and run again, but just fell over once more.<p>

"Tai help!" The dinosaur cried out for his best friend. He hadn't seen him in over a year, but he knew if he could come he would. "TAI!" Even as he cried, he could see black rings flying above him. It wasn't safe here, he had to keep moving.

Even as he got back to his feet, in a completely different world, a LED screen flashed red, and its owner, a high schooler with big, bushy brown hair stared at in horror.

'_Agumon'_ The boy thought sadly. _'What's happening to you buddy?'_

* * *

><p>"I'm Mr. Hamisaki, I'll be your teacher." Davis slumped in his desk as the teacher droned on. Why did he have to be in the class with the BORING teacher?<p>

'_Well, at least I'm in Kari's class.'_ He consoled himself.

"And I'd like you all to welcome a new student." Wait what? Davis was suddenly at attention, staring at the blonde boy who thought he had looked familiar earlier.

"It's nice to meet you. I'm TK." The blonde boy introduced himself, smiling at the class.

"Please take a seat next to the girl with the camera around her neck." As the teacher directed TK, Davis looked around rapidly and groaned. Just his luck, blondie would have to sit next to Kari.

Kari turned and smiled at TK as he sat next to her. That was normal for Kari, she smiled at everyone. The surprise came for Davis when the boy opened his mouth and talked to Kari.

"Together again, huh Kari?" As he greeted her, Davis' mind screeched violently to a halt. And he got another shock when she replied.

"Just like old times." Kari AGREED with this... this... DOOFUS!

'_I don't believe it, a rival for Kari's affections! And she knows him. ARGGH! I've got to talk to that TS or TJ or whatever.' _Davis glared at the blonde boy, even as he and Kari got on with the work.

* * *

><p>Back in Digital World, three very different creatures were flying as fast as they could go through a forest. One of the creatures was a large ladybug with yellow antennae, another was a pink bird with what looked like red claws at the end of her wings and the last one was an orange pig with bat wings for ears. They were chased by a huge preying mantis with scythes for arms and a black ring wrapped around his torso.<p>

"Hurry!" The ladybug shrieked. "Don't let Snimon catch us!"

"**Twin Sickles!" **The ladybug had warned his compatriots too late, however, and even before he'd finished speaking, the Snimon had fired waves of pink energy from its scythes, and they collided with the pink bird and the ladybug, sending them tumbling to the ground, where black rings waited to ensnare more Digimon. Only the bat pig had avoided the attack, and he hid in a tree to avoid more attacks from the larger creature.

"Biyomon and Tentomon!" The bat pig murmured as he hid. Two more of his friends were gone. But he knew he couldn't waste time, and flew away from his fallen friends, crying softly to himself.

Close by, the orange dinosaur had fallen over again, but this time he was helped to his feet by a human boy. The dinosaur looked up at him and despite the fact that he was taller and wearing different clothes, he knew who it was. The goggles and wild hair kind of gave it away.

"TAI! You're here!" The dinosaur cried happily. He knew he'd be able to fight back now his best friend was here.

"AGUMON!" Tai stared at his Digimon in shock. He looked more worn out than he had when they had faced the Dark Masters. He growled and raised his Digivice high into the air. "You've got to Digivolve." His device vibrated twice, but otherwise did nothing. Tai stared at it in horror. This had never happened before. He looked back at his worn out best friend and growled. His friend needed him, and Tai never let down his friends.

The image of an orange sun began to glow on Tai's shirt and his Digivice vibrated again, but this time it shot out a beam of orange light. This rose up high into the air, and shot down to cover Agumon.

The orange dinosaur felt re-energized by this power, and felt something he hadn't felt in a long time: the power to Digivolve.

"**Agumon Digivolve to… Greymon!**"

* * *

><p>Back in his base, the Digimon Emperor fell backwards in shock.<p>

'_How did they Digivolve? As long as I hold the Black Digivice, it should be impossible for them to do so.'_ He stared pensively at the screen_. 'This must be looked into.'_

* * *

><p>Snimon bore down on his target, an orange bat-big. He readied his Twin Sickles attack, eager to please his master by knocking another Digimon down to get ensnared, but was interrupted.<p>

"**Nova Blast!**" A huge fireball burst out of the forest, and collided with the preying mantis, who snarled with pain as the attack it hit, but continued with his quest to attack the bat pig. However, what the Snimon hadn't anticipated was an orange Tyrannosaurus-Rex charging at him the second he did so, throwing its huge body weight at him to tackle him to the floor.

Immediately after the tackle, the dinosaur was consumed by yellow light, and turned into a much smaller dinosaur. The Snimon hissed in delight, and tried to attack the weakened Agumon. But before he could even begin to raise his scythes, a white cat leapt out from the trees, flying at the Snimon.

"**Lightning Paw!**" The cat thrust her paw into the preying mantis' face, and he roared with pain, but the cat had no mercy, and slammed her paw again and again into his face, only leaping off when the insect fell to the ground, unconscious. The cat turned to the bat-pig.

"Are you alright Patamon?" The cat helped Agumon to his feet even as she asked this.

"I'm fine Gatomon, but Tentomon and Biyomon have been captured." The flying pig, Patamon, replied.

"Agumon!" Gatomon and Patamon turned to look at the new arrival. Like Agumon, they both recognized him instantly.

"TAI?" They both yelled, shocked that he was here. The cat quickly shook her head as he opened his mouth to talk to them.

"Explain later. It's not safe out here. There's a cave this way." Gatomon snapped at the human, and started to lead the group through the forest. Patamon and Tai followed close behind, with Tai carrying Agumon on his back.

Once they got inside the cave, Tai set Agumon down and took out his mobile phone. "We're definitely going to need more help. I'd better send a message to the others."

**Guys,  
>Come to the Digital World right away! The Digimon need our help.<br>Tai Kamiya.**

And Tai sent the message to the phones of everyone he had been in the Digital World with before. Things don't always go according to plan in the Digital World however, and instead of going to their phones, it went to the computer he used to gain access to the Digital World.

* * *

><p>"Huh. What's this?" Yolei stared at the message that had just come up on her screen. "'Come to the Digital World right away?' Must be a link to an online game." She scrolled down on the email. "From 'Tai Kamiya'?" Why does that sound familiar?" Yolei stared at the name for a few seconds before it hit her. "Of course! There's a girl in the class next to mine with the same last name, the message must be for her!"<p>

"So TK, how does your mom like the new apartment?" Kari asked her best friend as she put her bag into her locker.

"She hasn't seen it yet, she's been on the computer the whole time." TK laughed, doing the same thing. Before they could delve any further into idle chit chat, Davis turned the corner of the hallway, panting incredibly hard.

"Hey buddy!" Davis glared angrily right at the hat wearing boy. Kari and TK stared at him, confused as to why he was so angry with TK.

"What's wrong Davis?" Kari turned to him, concern written all over her face.

"What's wrong, I'll tell you what's wrong! That new kid knows you, and no-one else knows him, so fess up blondie!" Davis marched past Kari and stared right at TKs face. "How do you know Kari?"

TK looked shocked. "How do I know her?" He tilted his head back and laughed. "There's a long story."

Davis looked ready to throw a punch, but was stopped by the sound of footsteps behind him. A purple-haired girl holding a folded sheet of paper turned the corner Davis had turned not a long time ago and yelled "HEY!"

TK recognized her instantly. "Oh, hi Yolei."

"You're Kari Kamiya, aren't you?" Yolei asked as she walked up to Kari.

"That's right. Why do you ask" Kari replied, looking puzzled as to why she was being asked who she was by a girl TK knew.

"Well," Yolei started, then opened the piece of paper. "Are you related to Tai? He sent this to my computer." Kari and TK stared in shock for a moment at the text on the page, then they hardened their expressions and took of running to the computer room, leaving Davis and Yolei behind to stare after them in confusion, before they chased after the two; Yolei to see what the Digital World was and Davis because he wanted to know what blondie knew that he didn't.

When they reached the hallway that had the computer room on it, all they could see was an open door and a red headed boy in a high school uniform rushing up the nearby stairs. Yolei stopped to stare at him in shock.

"Hey, aren't you Koushiro Izu-"

"No time! Talk later!" The high schooler interrupted her and ran into the computer room. Inside TK and Kari were trying to do something on Yolei's computer. Koushiro shoved them aside with a sharp "Let me!" and started to type wildly. A strange program came up on the computer but the red head continued to type. TK and Kari looked on, worried, while Yolei and Davis were just confused.

* * *

><p>In the Digital World, Tai's phone finally vibrated. When he opened it, a message popped across his screen.<p>

**Tai,  
>On way now. Got TK and Kari.<br>Izzy.**

Tai sighed in relief. "It's from Izzy guys," he yelled at the Digimon. "He's got Kari and TK and they're on their way to help out!"

"Tai, get over here!" Tai looked up at the cry from his weakened Digimon partner.

"So, what's the Digital World? Is it some kind of new game?" Yolei innocently questioned the three people in the room who seemed to know what was going on. She was very surprised when all three of them ignored her, seemingly entranced by whatever Koushiro was doing on the screen.

Davis looked thoughtful. "I overheard Tai talking about it once to some red headed chick. He shut up the second he saw me, but I heard something about Digimon too, whatever they are."

"You know this Tai person too?" Yolei asked Davis.

Davis nodded. "Yeah, he's the coach of my football team."

Still, the other three occupants of the room did not look up from the screen, and Yolei was starting to get a little exasperated. "Urgh, I've got to go. I need to help Cody fix his computer. I'll try to get TK to tell me what it is later." With that said, she walked out of the room, hurrying to make sure she'd meet Cody on time.

Davis looked at the others. "I'm not going anywhere till I'm told what's going on!"

The high schooler murmured to the other two. "If Tai's there, then the gate must be open."

* * *

><p>Tai walked deeper into the cave, following the sounds that the three Digimon made. When he reached them, he was struck dumb. On a plinth, in the centre of a circular cavern, was a sphere with a spike coming out of the top. The sphere was red and yellow, and just below the spike was an emblem of a sun.<p>

'_The Crest of Courage. My crest.' _Tai stared at it for several seconds, before shrugging. _'If it has the Crest of Courage emblazoned on it, then it's probably mine. And who knows? We might be able to use it against the Emperor.' _When Tai tried to lift the egg, it glowed brightly, and shot out three different coloured beams of energy – a blue beam, a red beam and a yellow beam. The beams all flung themselves out of the cave and Tai didn't see any possible way to follow them, the speed they were going at. He turned back to the egg, and tried to lift it again, but this time had no success at all.

* * *

><p>As they walked down the school hallways, Yolei told her much younger friend about the mysterious email she had gotten, and the resulting reactions it had caused.<p>

Cody looked thoughtfully at the girl next to him. "As interesting as this 'Digital World' thing is, my mom's expecting us back at mine soon, so you can fix the computer."

"I know, I know." Yolei sighed. "I just really want to know what got those three so worked up though."

Back in the computer room, Davis glared at the three people huddled over the screen, but was taken aback when they all stepped back, with a strange program covering all of the screen space. Kari nodded at the weird red headed boy, and then raised a strange tamagotchi-lookalike thing to the screen. Davis' jaw dropped when a white light came out from the computer and covered Kari. When it was gone, Kari was nowhere to be seen. The blonde boy followed suit, and like Kari, he disappeared.

Before Koushiro could do the same, three bright lights erupted from the computer screen. A blue one shot right into his hand, and a red and a yellow one flew out of the window, following an unseen map.

The red head looked at him in astonishment, then began to inspect what the light had left. "Hmm, bulkier than ours, and it's already got colour on it. Still, no denying it's a Digivice." He stood and smiled at Davis, who was thrown by the rapid change in the boy's mood. "We'll explain everything later, right now, we just need you to hold your Digivice up to the screen."

Davis looked at him in shock for a moment, then shrugged. _'If it takes me where Kari's gone, I'm there!' _He raised his new gadget up to the screen, and was very surprised when the world around him began to disappear. The last thing he saw was the high schooler smiling at him, before his world turned to black.

Izzy was about to follow his fellow DigiDestined when the closed door swung open, and a familiar looking lavender haired girl stood there with a unfamiliar looking young boy.

The girl growled at him "Since you were so unreceptive earlier, I want payback for you ignoring me!" Izzy's eyes widened, and he realised what he, Kari and TK had done in their single minded determination to regain access to the Digital World.

'_We're very lucky.'_ Izzy thought. _'If that kid hadn't gotten a Digivice, we'd have accidentally revealed a world to someone who shouldn't know of its existence.'_ Izzy turned to the computer screen and realised the Digital Gate program was still open. _'Oh no, they can't be allowed to see this!' _Izzy made a lunge to close the program, but the girl managed to tackle him, foiling his attempt to turn it off.

"Oh no you don't, Koushiro. You owe me, and I want to know what's on that computer, and what these things are!" The girl shoved a red version of the Digivice Davis got in his face, and he realised that this was also a new DigiDestined. Izzy looked at the boy who came in with her and saw he was carrying a yellow version.

Izzy sighed in relief. _'The Digital World won't be revealed to someone it shouldn't be today then. I best acquiesce to their demands, it'll make things easier in the long run.'_

"I think we need to start over." He smiled at the lavender haired girl. "If you get off me I'll explain everything you want to know."

The girl frowned at him. "As long as you don't try any funny stuff, got it?"

* * *

><p>Davis slowly opened his eyes, and stared at the brunette and the blonde standing above him. He certainly wasn't in school anymore, as the blue sky rolled high above him, and there were no forests this thick near to school.<p>

"Welcome to the team!" Davis turned his gaze to the blonde boy standing over him, who was now holding out a hand. The football player growled and took it grudgingly, and let go the second he was on his feet.

"We'll get Izzy to explain it later. Found Tai yet Kari?" TK turned to his friend and she nodded once before she walked into the trees, following a signal on her Digivice. "Keep up with us Davis. We'll explain everything later." TK flashed one more smile at the goggle adorned boy, before following Kari.

Davis just stood there for a few seconds, before sprinting after his classmates, yelling "Hey! Wait up!"

* * *

><p>The Emperor raised an eyebrow at what he saw on his monitor. <em>'More DigiDestined have come to my garden. I best keep an eye on them; maybe the older boy will explain how he got his partner to Digivolve.'<em>

* * *

><p>"Tai's close." The brunette girl continued to follow the signal her Digivice gave off, occasionally looking around her for more physical signs of Tai's presence. Behind her stood TK and Davis, Davis staring at everything with a wide-eyed expression and TK looking about for signs of his partner.<p>

"So this is the Digital World, huh? It doesn't seem too dangerous." Davis gave a closer inspection to his surroundings. Everything seemed more vibrant than it did back home, and the tree's bark was incredibly smooth.

As his eyes darted left and right, he eventually saw a vending machine for drinks. He shrugged. 'I am pretty thirsty' Davis thought, and walked away from the others to get a drink

TK and Kari didn't notice he'd left the party until they hear a high pitched shriek of fear behind them. When they turned, they saw Davis sprawled across the ground, with what appeared to be green sludge moving around him. Neither of them could help it, and they started to laugh.

Once the sludge had disappeared, Davis stood and glared at them. "That wasn't funny! They might've tried to steal my brain, or probe me, or something."

Kari shook her head dismissively. "The Numemon wouldn't do that, you just scared them is all."

"You know those things Kari?" Davis looked at his crush in shock.

"Not those ones in particular, but I have a few friends who are Numemon." Kari smiled at the football player. "You'll make friends with Digimon too soon."

Davis opened his mouth to ask a question, but was prevented from asking a question by the sight of his coach showing up, accompanied by a dinosaur, a cat and a flying pig thing.

"TK!" Patamon gave a loud yell, and flew toward his partner. TK ran forward and met him halfway, gripping his friend to his chest and spinning him round. "Boy am I glad to see you."

Kari and Gatomon's reunion was much more subdued, with Kari simply reaching down to give her partner a hug.

Davis stared in disbelief at the two of them, but shook his head, and waved energetically at Tai. "Hey coach."

Tai stared at Davis and was about to ask what he was doing there when Kari gave of a horrified cry. She had looked up to greet Agumon and had noticed the condition he was in.

Kari turned to her brother. "Tell us what happened."

He shook his head. "Not here, it's not safe. There's a cave not too far away, I'll explain everything then."

* * *

><p>When they got inside the cave, Agumon began to explain everything. "One day this bossy human appeared and began making Digimon into his slaves-"<p>

"A human? You mean, someone comes here besides us?" TK interrupted, staring in shock at the dinosaur.

Agumon nodded. "Yeah. He has this strange new Dark Digivice; it makes us unable to Digivolve."

Kari turned to Davis. "Show them yours." She urged. The newbie looked taken aback for a moment, but shrugged and held it out for the Digimon to see. The second they saw it, they all got into battle positions and snarled at him.

"That's his Digivice! You must work for the Digimon Emperor!" The cat growled, preparing herself for a battle.

"WHAT!" Davis protested loudly. "I don't work for nobody! Besides, this thing ain't dark, it just came to me out of a computer!"

Tai looked at his pupil, momentarily surprised, but quickly caught on. _'So that's what came out of that sphere when I touched it! Three new Digivices! But why did Davis get one? What's his purpose in the Digital World? And more importantly, who got the other two Digivices?'_

* * *

><p>"You see, the very fact you have these means you're DigiDestined. We're a group of people who are capable of traveling to different worlds, and it's our duty to destroy anything that might disturb the harmony that keeps the worlds separated. With me so far?" Izzy looked at Yolei and Cody, sighing as he explained this again. <em>'And when the others get back, I'll be explaining this to that other new kid too.' <em>The two newest DigiDestined nodded. Izzy nodded too, and continued with introducing the new kids into what they were now a part of.

* * *

><p>While everyone was distracted by Gatomon and Davis' disagreement, a floating black ring entered the cave unseen, a camera inserted into it.<p>

"He uses these floating black rings, what he calls Dark Rings, on Digimon. Once one is around you, you lose all thought, and become nothing more than an extension of the Emperors will." Agumon looked down, growling. All of the humans gasped with horror, even Davis. They couldn't believe what he was doing to the Digimon.

Davis looked down at the floor. _'This Emperor gut sounds like a real jerk.'_ He turned to look at Agumon_. 'I mean, this guy seems perfectly nice, but he's completely worn out from avoiding the Emperor for ages.'_

Tai growled angrily. "Digimon Emperor! Hah! The second Agumon recovers enough, we'll dethrone him like the fraud he is, right Agumon?"

Agumon nodded in agreement. "Right!"

* * *

><p>The Digimon Emperor was growing bored with this conversation. <em>'If they won't talk about how the bushy haired one could get his Digimon to Digivolve then I'll just destroy them!'<em> A floating keyboard appeared before him, and as he entered in combinations, he gave a sadistic grin. _'That Agumon is too worn out to Digivolve again, and even if that Patamon CAN Digivolve, they won't be able to beat the combined force of Monochromon and Unimon.'_

* * *

><p>Tai showed the others the weird thing with the Crest of Courage on it. "I tried to lift it out, and I was able to release the new Digivices on my first go, but I couldn't do anything at all on my second try. You guys want to try?"<p>

Both TK and Kari shook their heads. "Courage is yours Tai, and if you can't pick it up, what chance do me and TK have?"

Tai nodded at the two of them. "I figured you'd say that. Well that leaves us with one contender." All of them turned to face Davis. He stared back at them uncomprehending what they wanted him to do. They gestured at the sphere, and mimed picking it up.

Understanding shone in Davis' eyes. "Oh, I get it!" He exclaimed, and ran over to the sphere, clamped both hands tightly around it, and yanked on it as hard as he could. He was very surprised when it just moved with him, and he went flying back to the ground. An orange light burst from the plinth where the sphere had been, and inside something was forming.

The light suddenly flashed, and everyone had to cover their eyes. When they could see again, the plinth had disappeared, and in its place stood a short, blue reptilian creature. It had red eyes, and a white underbelly. Its nose ended on a spike, and in the middle of its forehead was a yellow V.

The creature looked confused for several moments before it began to jump around wildly. "Free at last, free at last." It chanted. When it stopped, it stopped in front of Davis, and stuck his hand out towards him. "My name's Veemon, nice to meet'cha!"

Davis just blinked at him for several seconds, before remembering his manners, and grasped the blue lizards hand with his own. "Hi. I'm Davis."

"I know of Veemon!" Everyone turned to look at Patamon. "Supposedly he's an adventure seeking, fun-loving Digimon who brings good luck! But I thought he was just a legend."

Veemon grinned at his description, happy to still be known of even after all these years. "Nope, I'm real alright, and I've waited a very long time to meet'cha Davish!"

Davis stared at him in bewilderment. "Uh, I think you have the wrong guy buddy."

Veemon shook his head. "Nope, you're the one alright. You were able to move the Digi-Egg of Courage, and that makes us partners."

Tai frowned. _'Veemon's right. Even though I have the Crest of Courage, I couldn't budge it, but Davis could.'_

A huge tremor filled the cavern, and one of the walls collapsed. Behind the rubble stood a red masked unicorn-pegasus hybrid with a Dark Ring around his neck and a single-honed dinosaur with spikes running down his back and his Dark Ring around his middle.

Davis freaked. "Wha… What're they!"

"A Unimon and a Monochromon!" Kari yelled frantically. "The Emperor is using them to attack us!"

Gatomon shook her head and leapt in between the two slaves and her friends. "They won't get to you if I have anything to say about it."

"Be careful Gatomon!" Agumon called, getting ready to get out of there.

The cat nodded. "I will. Now get out of here!" Tai, Agumon, Kari, Davis and Veemon all turned tail and ran, but TK and Patamon stayed behind.

"We can't let you face this alone Gatomon!" Patamon cried, worried for his friend.

TK nodded in agreement. "We know you're strong, but you're exhausted from evading the Emperor." He looked at the slaves, who just stood there, awaiting orders.

A brainwave hit Patamon. "TK! Tai could get Agumon to Digivolve by using his crest! If you do the same, I can back Gatomon up!"

* * *

><p>The Emperor frowned. <em>'What do they mean by crest?'<em> He shook his head. _'No matter, I'll pry the secret out of them before long.'_ The bluenette turned back to his screen. _'I best send in another Digimon, just to make sure the job gets done.' _His sadistic smirk was back on his face. _'And I know just who to send.'_

"Unimon, Monochromon, attack!"

* * *

><p>The pegasus and the dinosaur began to move. TK turned, and sprinted for the exit to the cave, but held his Digivice up behind him as he ran, and what appeared to be a yellow exclamation mark appeared on his chest. A yellow beam came out from the blonds Digivice and consumed his partner. The last thing he heard before the sounds of a battle drowned everything out was the sound of Digivolution.<p>

"**Patamon Digivolve to… Angemon!**" And he knew that a six-winged angel wearing a helmet and carrying a yellow staff was now occupying the space that Patamon had just been in.

The cat and the six winged angel leapt into action, eager to defend their friends and free these poor souls from the Emperors control. Gatomon leapt at the Unimon and Angemon turned to the Monochromon, and the battle begun.

"**Volcanic Strike!**" The Monochromon opened it's mouth wide, and spat a volley of fireballs at the angel Digimon.

Angemon flew forward and batted his staff at any fireball that came close to him, deflecting them towards the walls of the cave. The angel flew out of the hole that the slaves had made, and slammed his staff against the Dark Ring as he flew past the Monochromon, but the Emperor had made his enslaving devices very well, and it survived his first attack. Angemon was prevented by making another attack by the dinosaur slamming his side into the angel. The force from the impact knocked Angemon away from the Ring, but the angel was not deterred, and readied his strongest attack.

"**Volcanic Strike!" **The Monochromon saw this, and attempted to stop the attack by firing another volley of fireballs at Angemon, but it was too late.

"**Hand of Fate!**" The angel shouted, and a beam of orange light shot out from his hand. It tore through the fireballs as though they weren't there, and hit the Monochromon hard. The dinosaur roared with pain and slumped to the ground, but Angemon had no time to pause to show his regret, and flew over the Dark Ring again. He slammed his staff into the evil object, which started to crack.

Sparks shot out from the Ring, and the electric knockback flung the angel into the sky, and paralyzed the Monochromon, who roared with pain. Angemon wasted no time, and his hand began to glow with light again.

"**Hand of Fate!**" The angel cried, and the beam of light flew from his right fist, and collided with the mind-controlling device below him. It broke instantly, and the dinosaur Digimon it had enslaved collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

* * *

><p>When the Monochromon had released his volley, Gatomon flung herself at the Unimon, hoping that her earlier strategy would work again. "<strong>Spread Neigh!" <strong>This Unimon was ready for her however, and he fired a shockwave from his horn at the cat Digimon. His foe leapt backwards to avoid the attack and he charged forward, trying to impale Gatomon on his horn.

His attempt was thwarted by the agile cat leaping backwards again to avoid his charging assault. When he opened his mouth to fire his Horn Blaster, she smirked and stared right into the Unimon's eyes.

"**Cat's Eye Hypnotism!**" Gatomon intoned, and the pegasus/unicorn hybrid stopped his attack and slumped to the ground asleep allowing the cat to jump onto the back of her fellow vaccine-type.

"**Lightning Paw!**" With that cry, Gatomon began to slam her paws into the pseudo-collar wrapped around the Unimon's neck.

After several hits, it cracked, and the electric blast it gave of woke up the winged beast and shocked Gatomon. The blast was unexpected, but she was able to stay on the back of the enslaved Digimon. Said slave roared with anger and started to buck, attempting to throw the cat Digimon off his back.

The cat clung on, and stared right at the sparking Ring. "**Cat's** **Eye** **Beam!**" A beam of pink energy shot out of each eye, and they continued what her original attacks had begun. About a minute later, the ring released another electric blast, and this time it flung the cat from the Unimon's back. The electric it released paralysed the Digimon it enslaved, and with it unmoving, Gatomon walked right up to her target.

"**Wild Scratch!**" One last slash from her claws, and the Dark Ring broke apart, freeing the pegasus from the Emperor's control.

* * *

><p>"There are 3 different attributes a Digimon can have: Data, Vaccine and Virus." Tai had decided that they shouldn't spend their wait for Angemon and Gatomon by worrying about them and had decided to give Davis a lesson on Digimon and about being a DigiDestined to pass the time. "Data-types are strong against Vaccine-types, who are strong against Virus-types, who are strong against Data-types."<p>

"So, it's like Grass – Water – Fire in Pokémon?" Davis interrupted; trying to make sure he understood everything his hero was telling him.

Tai nodded. "Not quite as drastic, but yeah. There are 6 different stages to a Digimon's lifecycle: Baby, In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate and Mega. They all vary in size and strength but the general thing is thing is that they're all a lot stronger than the stage before it. Veemon, Agumon and Patamon are Rookies, while Gatomon, Monochromon and Unimon are Champions."

"That little kitty cat's as strong as that fire-breathing dinosaur and that unicorn... pegasus... thing?" Davis asked, incredulous, before shaking his head. "Hold up, if Patamon's only a Rookie, then why is it him and the cat, versus two Champions?"

Tai grinned. "Ah. You've reached the 'Being a DigiDestined' part of this lesson. Each DigiDestined has a partner Digimon, in my case Agumon, and in yours, Veemon. The device you got, your Digivice, is a tool that you can use on your Digimon to give it a power boost if it needs it, and to shoot it an evolutionary stage if the problem's too big for a Rookie to handle. TK used his to Digivolve Patamon into his Champion form, Angemon."

Davis nodded his head. "So instead of being outclassed, the fight's even?" He frowned. "Hold up, that sounded like Angel Mon, is that just a weird name or did that thing actually turn into an angel?"

"More or less," Tai agreed with his first question. "Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that part, when some Digimon evolve to the next stage, they can look nothing like their previous form. Like Patamon turning into an angel, or Gatomon's Rookie form is a dog, but Gatomon herself is a cat. But most of the time there's at least some correlation, like insects turning into insects, or birds into birds." He was about to say more when they all heard a familiar voice.

"We're back!" They all looked up, where an angel was carrying a cat in his arms. Kari and TK laughed with delight and waved at them, calling for their respective partner.

"**Electro Shocker!**" The happy moment was ruined by the returning friends being hit with a huge orb of electricity. Angemon and Gatomon were already tired, having been shocked by the Dark Rings, and so were unable to avoid the attack. When the attack it, it sent the angel plummeting down to earth, with which they collided with a sickening thud, unconscious. Angemon was covered with a yellow light, and shrank rapidly, turning back into Patamon.

TK and Kari attempted to run to their partners, but a huge foot blocked their path. A huge, four armed, blue and grey rhinoceros beetle with a Dark Ring around his upper left arm was blocking had landed in their way. Tai, TK, Kari and Agumon stared at him in horror, unable to believe what they were seeing.

"Kab... Kabu... Kabuterimon?" Kari whispered, hoping that it wasn't their friend.

The beetle turned to her and roared. He raised his foot and brought it smashing down towards her. Davis rushed forward and tackled the frozen girl, moving her out from under the foot.

"Kari, now's not a good time to freeze. Tai, TK, help me out here!" But when he turned to them for help, he found that they were frozen stiff too. He looked up at the huge beetle and gulped.

'_Okay, what did Tai tell you? Considering he took out the angel and the cat, I think it's safe to assume he's a Champion level too.'_ He turned to Veemon. _'And Veemon's only a Rookie, the insect thing would win, no contest. But didn't Tai say something about we can sometimes make them go to the next level if the problem's too big for a Rookie to handle? Well, I think this qualifies.' _Davis reached into his pocket and pulled out his Digivice. _'Hope this works.' _He raised it high into the air, and yelled loudly. "VEEMON EVOLVE!"

Several things happened at once. Firstly, Tai, TK and Kari unfroze. Second, the thing he pulled out of the ground glowed brightly in his pocket, and turned into a beam of orange light that went straight into the device he held high above his head. Thirdly, Patamon and Gatomon woke up.

Veemon nodded once and leapt up into the air, declaring "**Veemon Armour Digivolve to...**" Davis' Digivice vibrated, and the orange beam that had gone into it shot out of it and consumed Veemon.

"WHAT?" Kabuterimon snarled, and tried to attack, but froze midway through moving it's hand to smash the evolving being back down to the ground.

"**Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage!**" The orange light disappeared, and where Veemon had been, something new had taken his place. It was easily three times as tall as Veemon, with hands that were covered in thick armour that had three claws coming out, a chest piece with the Crest of Courage on the back, a helmet with the spike, knee guards and his feet were covered by something similar to the armour that covered his hands.

The three veteran DigiDestined gawked. _'Armour... Digivolve?' _All three thought in unison.

Their partners were similarly taken aback. _'But that's been lost since the ancient times!'_ Gatomon thought, before she shook her head_. 'Questions later, right now, help out!' _"Destroy the Dark Ring and set him free Flamedramon!" The cat shouted at the newly evolved being, who nodded at her and raised his fists.

"**Flame Fist!**" Flamedramon roared, and fired dozens fireballs right at the Dark Ring. Kabuterimon was unable to regain function of his body to avoid the attack and all of them collided with their target, which shattered, the pieces falling harmlessly to the floor.

The huge beetle was consumed with the same light Angemon had, and was replaced by a small red ladybug, which groaned and began to speak in a sluggish voice. "Ooh, what's happening?"

Agumon laughed dryly. "I'll explain later Tentomon."

"GATOMON!"

"PATAMON!" Two voices cried out and TK and Kari ran over to their partners, and tenderly picked them up.

Flamedramon was suddenly covered in an orange light, which leapt off of his body and back into Davis' Digivice and Veemon stood where he had been standing.

Veemon sighed. "Aw, I'm back to plain old Veemon. Ah well." He turned to his new partner. "Nice working with you Davish, let's do it again sometime."

Davis nodded. "Sure. Sounds like fun."

"That was pretty cool Davis!" Tai walked up to the two of them and clapped them both on the back. '"You saved our skins, thanks."

"Yeah, thanks Davis!" TK called from where he was fussing over Patamon.

Kari smiled at him. "I'd be squashed if it wasn't for you, thanks."

Davis rubbed the back of his neck and blushed. "No problem. But why'd you guys freeze up like that?"

"Because he's a friend when he's not under the control of a Dark Ring, and we were really shocked when he showed up. But-" Tai broke off and rounded on the freed ladybug. "Tentomon! How many of the others does he have?"

Tentomon shook his head sadly. "Everyone else Tai, he has everyone else." Tai, TK, Kari and their Digimon stared at him in horror.

Davis frowned. "Hey, new guy over here! What does he mean by-"

"He has the Digimon partners of our friends!" Kari interrupted, wide-eyed.

TK put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, we'll free them. After all, we do have three Champions on our side, and whatever Flamedramon is."

Davis looked on with jealously, and steamed when he heard the end of TKs sentence. "Whaddya mean 'Whatever Flamedramon is' huh? Isn't he a Champion too?"

Tai shook his head. "Most likely, I mean, he could destroy a Dark Ring, but Kabuterimon was frozen, and he didn't just Digivolve, he Armour Digivolved, and that's the first we've heard of it, so we don't know what level he is."

Gatomon cleared her throat. "I know what it is. It's an ancient form of Digivolving, from when even getting to Champion was almost impossible without assistance. Armour Digivolving was developed to be that assistance. Armour Digimon aren't as strong as Champions, but they're pretty close to it, and can take a fair beating from a Champion too."

Kari looked at her partner in disbelief. "How'd you know something like that Gatomon?"

"I'm older than everyone else, and I've travelled a fair bit more too. You tend to pick up odd little things like that." The cat Digimon shrugged.

'_Best bring details of this 'Armour Digivolving' thing to Izzy, especially as whatever makes us need our Crests to make our Digimon get to Champion doesn't seem to affect it.' _Tai thought, already planning a meeting of the original eight of the DigiDestined.

* * *

><p>In his base the Digimon Emperor growled angrily. <em>'Not only can those meddlesome fools circumvent my Evolution Prohibition, they freed three of my slaves too!'<em> He slammed has fists against his armrests_. 'No matter, all I have to do is capture one of the humans and their Digimon and wrest the answer out of them. Now which one will be the best target?'_

The bluenette sat there for a few minutes, contemplating his options_. 'The girl and her Gatomon are out, I don't know if the girl can make her partner Digivolve. That leaves those three boys. The blond boy he's out too, his partner can fly, and could get away with his human from whatever I send to capture them. So either the bushy haired one or what seems to be the new one.' _The Emperor realised then that the answer was obvious_. 'Of course, the new one! His Digimon won't have as much battle experience as the others, and he himself won't be able to get away from whomever I send as easily. But who to send?'_ The Emperor thought deeply about which team of slaves would be the most suitable for this mission. Musing on who he was going to choose, The Emperor stood up and left his control room, a smirk across his face.

* * *

><p>The sun setting made for a lovely sight, and it especially cheered the Digimon up.<p>

"Night's coming! We can relax now!" Patamon exclaimed happily.

"Why? What's so good about the night?" TK looked quizzically at his partner, but it was Gatomon who answered his question.

"The Digimon Emperor never comes out at night, which means we have time to rest." The white cat explained.

Agumon turned to look at Tai. "Not that I don't enjoy seeing you again Tai, but it IS getting late. Don't you guys need to get home soon?"

Tai nodded at his Digimon. "We sure do, but I'm not even sure we can get home." He turned to Davis. "Be careful, never stay here too long. If you do, you might be unable to leave."

"Wow Izzy, that was really informative! Can we go to the Digital World now?" As the four humans and their Digimon, Tentomon having gone to look for information about the location of their enslaved friends, trudged back to the spot where they had entered the Digital World from, they heard a human girl's voice, one that TK recognised.

"Hey, that's Yolei! But, didn't she say she wasn't in the Digital World? If so, why can we hear her?" TK frowned, puzzled.

Kari's eyes widened. "Maybe we can hear her through the gate!"

"The gate might close, it's not safe." All of them recognised that voice.

Tai grinned. "Izzy! Come on guys, let's go home!"

* * *

><p>Back in the computer lab, Yolei and Cody stared imploringly at the red-headed high schooler, who had told them to call him Izzy.<p>

"Surely a quick look wouldn't hurt?" Cody asked, eager to go in and see this new world.

Izzy shook his head. "The gate could close the moment after you go through, and anyway, it's getting late, and you two should be getting home!"

Yolei was persistent in her wheedling however. "PLEASE? We won't be long, I swear!"

"NO!" Izzy continued to deny her.

* * *

><p>At the exact spot where they had entered the world sat a TV. The screen showed an image of the computer lab, and they could see and hear Izzy, Yolei and Cody on it.<p>

"Okay, now what" Davis turned to the three more experienced people, but they shook his heads at him.

"Sorry Davis, but we don't know. We usually go through pools of white light, and before that we left we used a trolley car, and the time before that, a magic gate. TVs are new to us too." Tai apologized to the newest DigiDestined.

Davis growled. "Ugh, stupid thing!" And then he slammed his fist down on the top of the TV. "Take us home!"

To his and everyone else's surprise, the TV sent out a white light, which consumed the four humans and sucked them into the screen.

"You don't see that every day." Agumon remarked, staring at the TV in shock. The other Digimon nodded in agreement.

* * *

><p>Izzy was in the middle of telling Yolei no again, when the computer screen began to glow.<p>

"GET AWAY!" He yelled at the other two people in the room, and stunned, they did exactly as he told them to. It was a good thing he had done so, as four people game zooming out of the screen, and landed unceremoniously in a heap where they had been sitting.


	2. Chapter 2

Izzy, Yolei and Cody stared incredulously at the pile of people that had just tumbled out of the computer.

"…Next time, we go through the gate one at a time, we clear?" Tai groaned, attempting to disentangle himself from the pile.

TK nodded. "Yeah, really don't want to be on the bottom of this." After a great deal of effort, with help from the three DigiDestined in the room who hadn't been to the Digital World, they managed to untangle themselves, sighing in relief once they were all separated.

"The Digital World was the coolest place I've ever been to!" Davis exclaimed, exhilarated by his adventure that day. He noticed Yolei and Cody staring jealously at the group who had just come through the gate, and couldn't resist the opportunity to rile them up. "There we were, having just freed a unicorn/pegasus hybrid and a fire-breathing dinosaur when we were attacked by a huge insect. I-"

"SHUT UP!" Yolei yelled, interrupting him. "Izzy, the Gate's fine, now can I please go to the Digital World?"

"I think we've had enough excitement for one day." Cody commented, thinking about how worried his mom would be if he didn't show up at home soon.

"Don't you want to go to the Digital World Cody?" Yolei exclaimed, looking down at her much younger friend in disbelief.

"Of course seeing all those monsters and stuff would be cool, I do need to get home soon, or my mom will worry." The young brunette frowned at the lavender haired girl. "And she'll worry about you too, since she does have brownies waiting for you, and you've never passed up a chance for them before Yolei."

Yolei sighed, deflating. "And I do still need to fix your computer. But I really wanted to go."

TK patted her back, moving her with the rest of the group to the door. "Don't worry Yolei; you'll get your chance."

As the others were leaving, Izzy walked back to the computer. "I almost forgot to shut it down. Hey-" He broke off, looking at the Digital Gate program. _'The gate's closed…'_

* * *

><p>"Here he comes!" TK stood up from his swing as his brother approached the rest of them. Tai and Kari were sitting on a bench, Sora was sitting on the monkey bars, and Joe and Izzy were sitting on another bench.<p>

"Hi Matt!" Tai said, waving at his friend.

"Hey everybody, sorry I'm late." Matt rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Rehearsal ran on a bit longer than I expected, and I lost track of time."

"We're still waiting on Mimi, don't worry about it." Tai waved off his apology.

Matt grinned at the brunette, and sat on the swing next to TK. He hadn't sat there for five minutes, when a pink haired girl came running up, panting heavily.

"I'm so sorry guys, but the traffic was awful." She hoisted herself up next to Sora on the monkey bars. "But I'm here now, why'd you call us all here Tai?"

"Hey Mimi, nice to see you too." Tai smiled briefly at the newcomer, before his face settled into a frown, and he sighed. "I got an alert about Agumon being in danger, and I followed a signal on my Digivice to the nearest gate, which happened to be in Kari and TKs school. From there I-"

* * *

><p>'<em>I wonder what it's like.'<em> Cody swung his kendo stick even as he thought about that new world that Izzy had told him and Yolei of. _'To actually travel into the Digital World.'_

Not far from him, Yolei was thinking of the same thing as she worked on his computer. _'I don't care if they don't want me along, tomorrow I'm going to the Digital World!'_

"Cody, it's time for dinner! Are you staying with us for it Yolei?" Cody's mum popped her head around her son's door, interrupting both of their musings.

Yolei shook her head. "No, I have to get going. But thanks for the offer!" She put her tools back into her toolbox and waved goodbye to her friend. "See you tomorrow Cody!"

* * *

><p>Davis lay on his bed, absentmindedly tossing his football up and down, staring at his ceiling. <em>'Man, I just can't stop thinking about Veemon.' <em>He thought, and stopped throwing his ball. _'First chance I get, I'm going back there. I need to see Veemon again.'_

* * *

><p>"Armour Digivolving?" Matt asked, a quizzical expression on his face.<p>

Tai nodded. "It was a form of Digivolving I've never seen before, and Gatomon said that it was an ancient form of Digivolution. Not only that, but Davis was capable of using it to make a Digimon on par with a Champion, but me and TK needed to use our crests to make Agumon and Patamon Digivolve."

Sora frowned. "Davis from your football group went to the Digital World?"

"He got a new Digivice, and he's not the only one." TK looked at everyone there. "Two kids from my apartment building ALSO got new Digivices."

"If they've got new Digivices, then that means that they're new DigiDestined." Joe noted.

"That's just what I thought." Izzy agreed.

"But, if this Digimon Emperor guy is really hunting Digimon and making them his slaves, then will Palmon and the others be okay?" Mimi chewed on her lower lip nervously, afraid of the answer.

Tai shook his head sadly. "We freed Tentomon, and Agumon, Patamon and Gatomon weren't caught, but the others were."

Mimi burst out crying, and though Sora immediately went to comfort her, she looked ready to do the same. Joe put his head down, trying to hold back tears of his own, and Matt's expression went immediately to angry.

"I say we just go there," Matt growled. "Free our partners and take down this 'Digimon Emperor!"

Izzy shook his head. "We can't." He turned his gaze to the floor. "When I went back to turn the computer off, the Gate had already closed."

"We can't help them?" Mimi asked as she wiped her tears away.

There was a moment of silence as the full weight of what was happening sank in.

"I'm going back to the computer room at the first opportunity tomorrow to see if the Gate has opened up again." Izzy raised his head.

"I'm going too!" Tai exclaimed.

"Count me in." TK said.

"And me!" Kari added.

"I'll go too, even if I can't help without Biyomon, I might be able to help the new kids acclimatize." Sora reasoned.

Joe shook his head. "I don't think I'll be going until Gomamon's back."

Matt frowned. "Yeah, without our partners, we won't be able to help."

"…You're right." Mimi sighed. "Free loads for us, and save our partners as soon as you can, so we can help out too!" Matt and Joe nodded in agreement.

Tai stood up from the bench. "Don't worry about it, we can handle this until we find them."

* * *

><p>As the bell rang and students filed out from the school, Izzy sat facing the computer that the others had used to get into the Digital World the day before, shaking his head slowly. <em>'Just as I thought, the Gate is still closed.'<em> He stopped shaking his head and glared at the computer. _'No! I can't accept that. We NEED to get to the Digital World, our partners need us.'_

The red-headed teen was interrupted from his thoughts by a voice coming from the doorway.

"Izzy!" At his name the young genius looked up sharply, but relaxed when he saw Yolei and Cody walking towards him. "What are you doing on the computer?"

"Oh, hi." The red-headed boy smiled at the two new DigiDestined. "I was just opening the Digital Gate program to make sure it was open, so that we could go in today."

"I couldn't sleep last night, I kept thinking about it." Cody admitted, staring at the computer, before turning to face the high-schooler. "Izzy, will you take me with you to the Digital World?"

Izzy shook his head as he turned back to his computer. "I can't, the gate to the..." A sharp beeping sounded, cutting him off, and the red light on the Digital Gate faded to show a region of the Digital World. "It's opened?" The red head exclaimed with surprise.

"How's it going guys?" The three in the room turned to face the door, to see Davis, TK and Kari walking in, with Tai and Sora right behind them.

"You're going to need your Digivice out if you want to travel to the Digital World." Izzy said to the rest of them as he stood up and walked to the next computer on the row.

The other seven each got their Digivice out, the older four from their waists, and the new three from their pockets.

Sora, remembering what TK had said the night before, turned to look at the new three. "Can I see your Digivices?" Davis, Yolei and Cody looked at each other and shrugged, holding them out for the others to see.

"These new Digivices are really different from ours." Sora remarked, looking at them intently.

Tai nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I wonder why they look different though."

"Well what are we standing around here for? I say we get going!" Yolei exclaimed, eager to see the Digital World,

Davis put a hand on her shoulder, a smug look on his face, "Hold up! I think I should give you a couple of pointers about the things you're about to see."

"Give me a break!" Yolei snapped at him, "You've only been there once!"

"I think we should be prepared for a little danger." Cody said to Davis and Yolei, attempting to defuse the fight before it began.

"How odd." Everyone turned to look at Izzy, who was walking toward the rest of them from the back of the room. "I checked all the other computers and none of them have an open gate, it's only open on this one terminal."

"Then I say we get going!" Davis said, ready to see Veemon again. The other seven nodded, smiling at each other.

"Tai Kamiya, is that you?" An unexpected voice cut through the air, and all of them whirled to face the door. "We haven't seen you in a while."

"Mr. Fujiyama!" Tai yelled in surprise, even as his old teacher walked forwards smiling.

"And Sora and Izzy are here as well." He stopped walking and frowned. "Didn't you all graduate?"

"Yeah, we did." Tai admitted, but quickly saw a way to distract him from realizing that he, Sora and Izzy weren't meant to be there. "And what are you doing here?"

The frown disappeared from Mr. Fujiyama's face and was replaced by a huge smile. "I'm the new head of the Computer Club!"

"But what do you know about using computers?" Tai and Sora asked in unison, staring in disbelief at their old teacher.

Said teacher chuckled cheerfully. "Not a single thing!" he confessed, causing all three of his former pupils to sigh in exasperation.

"Mr. Fujiyama, I just remembered I needed to ask you something!" Tai exclaimed, attempting to get his old teacher out of the room so that the others could get into the Digital World.

"Sure Tai, what was it?" Just as he expected, his old teacher was ready to answer any question he had.

"Well, it's a lot of things to do with what's going on now, like the classes are harder, and the people are different, and I was hoping that you could help me with understanding the things that are going on" Even as he rambled to Mr. Fujiyama, he was surreptitiously guiding the both of them outside of the room to give the others a chance to leave.

Once they'd gone, Sora smiled. "Thanks Tai, we owe you one."

"Alright, let's get going before anyone else turns up." Izzy said, smiling himself.

The seven of them raised their Digivices and aimed them at the computer screen. A white light shone out and enveloped all of them, causing the world to disappear around them. When the light faded, they were gone.

* * *

><p>"Are you guys okay?" Izzy's voice sounded through the air, and Davis, Yolei and Cody got to their feet.<p>

"I think so!" Davis got to his feet, and helped Yolei and Cody to do the same once he had. "Yeah, no problem's over here!" He reported.

"So this is the Digital World." Cody murmured as he stared out at the colourful world he found himself in. "It looks different from what I imagined."

"I know what you mean Cody; I was expecting something less vibrant, more gritty." Yolei remarked, also looking at her environment.

"The Digital World has lots of places inside of it, so you'll probably see what you imagined it too look like eventually." Sora told the two of them. "Come on, the others are going to try and find their partners, and we might meet yours too, who knows."

The two new DigiDestined nodded and followed the others as they called out the names of their partners, unaware that they were being followed by a Dark Ring.

* * *

><p>The Digimon Emperor laughed when he saw the humans on his screen. <em>'I've been waiting for you to get here!' <em>A maniacal grin formed on his face. _'Now let the games begin!'_

"Snimon, attack!"

At his words, a Snimon with a Dark Ring around its waist flew out of his base, heading towards the clearing where the DigiDestined were looking for their partners.

* * *

><p>"Veemon!" Davis called out, hoping that his partner could hear him. "Veemon, where are you?"<p>

Nearby, Kari, TK and Izzy called for their partners, but Sora didn't, knowing that her partner was under the control of the Digimon Emperor. This caused Yolei and Cody to give her strange looks, as Izzy had told them that all DigiDestined had a partner Digimon, except Sora wasn't calling out for hers. Before they could ask about this, a voice called back to them from over the hill.

"Davish! Davish, I'm over here!" Davis turned in the direction the voice was coming from and gave a whoop of joy, as Veemon came running to meet him from over the hill.

"Veemon!" He yelled out in response, and rushed forward to meet his Digimon, being quickly followed by the others.

When the two met, they gave each other a firm handshake, and Veemon looked back over his shoulder. "Patamon and his friends were just behind me!"

The humans all looked up and saw Agumon, Tentomon, Patamon and Gatomon rushing toward them. Kari, Izzy and TK grinned in delight and called out their partners name as the met their Digimon.

"Izzy! Aren't you a sight for big, green, sore eyes!" Tentomon called out happily as he and his partner hugged happily. Kari and Gatomon hugged each other again, with TK and Patamon following suit, but Agumon was left to look round for Tai, then sighing unhappily when he realised his partner wasn't there.

Sora smiled sadly at him. "Sorry Agumon, but Tai had to stay behind so the rest of us could come here."

Before Agumon could respond, a cloud passed overhead, but a shadow remained on the ground, when the DigiDestined looked up they saw a Snimon flying right down at them. Everyone who had been in the Digital World ran out of the way to avoid the preying mantis, but Yolei and Cody were paralysed with fear, staring right at the giant insect without moving. Just before the mantis could attack them, Sora shoved Yolei out of the way, and Agumon did the same to Cody.

"I think it's time for some payback!" Tentomon yelled. Izzy nodded in agreement, and raised his Digivice. A purple symbol appeared on his chest, and the Digivice shot out a purple light that enveloped Tentomon.

"**Tentomon Digivolve to… Kabuterimon!**"

Yolei and Cody stared in shock as the huge rhinoceros beetle appeared where the ladybug had been, which then flew up and engaged the Snimon in combat.

"**Beetle Horn Attack!**" Electricity surrounded his horn just before the blue insect rammed it into the green one's face.

"**Mach Glide!**" Before Kabuterimon could try again, a bird seemingly made of fire with a Dark Ring around its right talon flew down and slammed its talons against the four-armed insect.

"Birdramon…" Sora whispered hoarsely, staring in shock at her partner being forced to obey the Emperors will.

TK and Patamon nodded at each other, and the Crest of Hope shone on his chest, causing a yellow light to burst from his Digivice, wrapping around his Digimon.

"**Patamon Digivolve to… Angemon!**"

When the light of evolution faded, Angemon had taken the place of the bat-pig, something that shocked Yolei and Cody even more.

"Get us up there Angemon!" Gatomon shouted to the angel, who picked the cat up and got ready to fly.

Veemon pulled on Davis' pant leg. "Us too?"

Davis looked down at his partner and nodded, and reached into the pocket he kept his Digivice in. "You bet!"

* * *

><p>Inside his base, the Digimon Emperor smirked. <em>'I can't let you do that!'<em> He thought, before typing on his keyboard. "Drimogemon, now!" He ordered.

* * *

><p>Before Davis could activate the Digi-Egg, the ground beneath him cracked, and broke apart, causing Davis to drop quickly down the hole. His hands scrambled for something to grab onto, and he managed to hold onto a rock, hanging over a purple furred mole with a drill for a nose and a Dark Ring around one of its paws.<p>

Veemon turned around and looked down at his partner. "Are you okay?"

"You're up, Mojyamon!" Another order snapped from the mouth of the bluenette tyrant.

"**Bone Boomerang!" **What seemed to be a white furred yeti with a dark ring around its wrist shoved two trees aside and flung a boomerang made of bone at Veemon, knocking him down the hole and into Davis, sending both of them down into the grip of the Drimogemon below, which sank back into the depths of the earth.

Yolei sank to her knees, her face white with horror. "They're gone! The ground just opened up and swallowed them!"

Cody was in a similar situation, trembling with fear even as he spoke. "I want to go home now."

"First we need to protect ourselves, and get out of here before more slaves show up." Izzy told them, as he and the other DigiDestined ran over to them.

"But what about Davis?" Cody asked, but before anyone could answer, Mojyamon's boomerang returned to him.

"**Bone Boomerang!**" The yeti hurled his boomerang again, hoping to knock another one of the DigiDestined into the pit.

"**Lightning Paw**!" Gatomon jumped from Angemon's arms and smacked her fist into the weapon, knocking it into the ground. As she did so, the angel flew up to assist Kabuterimon against Snimon and Birdramon.

Sora grabbed Yolei's arm and started pulling her to her feet. "Our Digimon won't be able to last against superior numbers, and if they capture us too, we won't be able to help Davis, so we have to get out of here!"

* * *

><p>Up in the sky, Kabuterimon was having difficulties fighting both Snimon and Birdramon at the same time, as every time he tried to attack one, the other would attack him, but he thought he'd figured out a way to change the tide of the battle.<p>

"**Meteor Wing!**" After pelting of fireballs struck his back, the giant rhinoceros beetle turned to face Birdramon, and readied his Electro Shocker.

"**Twin Sickles!**" Snimon slashed through the air, and fired two blades of energy at Kabuterimon, but the blue insect had anticipated this, and whirled back around, letting Snimon's attack collide harmlessly with his helmet.

"**Electro Shocker!**" Kabuterimon unleashed his attack directly at the green insect, who just hung in the air, surprised by what Kabuterimon had done. The ball of electricity hit the Snimon in the face, eliciting a screech of pain from the enslaved insect Digimon, and a screech of fury from Birdramon.

"**Meteor Wing!**" The blue insect span around to look at his enslaved friend as he heard the familiar cry, and gulped when he saw the huge wave of fire heading right at him.

"**Omni Typhoon!**" A huge tornado tore through the wall of fire, and continued on to catch Birdramon in the wings and chest and Angemon appeared at Kabuterimon's side. "Are you alright Kabuterimon?"

"Yes, but- **Electro Shocker!**" Kabuterimon interrupted himself to fire another attack at Snimon to drive it back. "But what about the others?"

Angemon grimaced, and span his staff to block a volley of fireballs. "They're fine for now, but we have to get out of here before more slaves arrive."

Kabuterimon nodded. "We'll never get away while these two are attacking us, but they don't let up!" The beetle turned slightly to look at the angel, and started to grin. "And I have an idea to get them to stop!"

"**Hand of Fate!" **Angemon lobbed a blast of divine light at Birdramon before asking his friend. "What do you have in mind?"

Birdramon let out a grunt of annoyance when she dodged the blast of holy energy, before spreading her wings to their full length. "**Meteor Wing!**"

"**Ultimate Twin Sickles!**" At the same time, Snimon fired out four blades of energy instead of the normal two, hoping that Kabuterimon wouldn't be able to block this attack.

"**Electro Shocker!**"

"**Hand of Fate!**" To the surprise of the slaves, Kabuterimon and Angemon flew apart, and flung their own attacks into the mixture. All four attacks collided, causing an explosion where they had been standing which covered the beetle and the angel with smoke.

Birdramon flew at the smoke cloud, knowing that her opponents were still inside. Just before she could release another blast of fireballs, a shout sounded from inside the smoke.

"**Omni Typhoon!" A** tornado shot out from the smoke, catching the firebird right in the chest, sending her away from the clearing, and crashing down into the forest below. Snimon, seeing what happened to its fellow slave, backed away from the smoke cloud, but that was exactly what they wanted him to do.

"**Electro Shocker!**" A purple sphere of electricity flew out of the cloud, and made a direct hit on Snimon. The impact propelled the preying mantis even further backwards, making him join Birdramon in the forest.

Given the chance to get away, the two headed right for the group of humans below, Angemon gathering TK and Agumon while Kabuterimon picked everyone else, placing them on his helmet as he flew.

* * *

><p>Davis groaned as he woke up, and raised his head. "Ah!" The boy yelped in surprise, seeing that he was hanging on a cliff face with mountains as far as the eye could see, and the ground extremely far away. '<em>Where am I? What happened?'<em>

"So you finally woke up? Good." Davis shifted his head back, and saw a figure clad in blue staring down at him. "Frankly, I'm rather disappointed I was able to capture you so easily, but it does leave me more time to get the answers I need out of you."

"Are you the Digimon Emperor?" The goggle wearing boy asked, hoping desperately that it wasn't.

"Speaking!" The tyrant responded, smirking down at his captive.

"But you're a kid, just like me! From what the Digimon said, I thought you'd be more impressive!" Davis called out, hoping to distract his captor from the questions.

The Digimon Emperor stood in silence for a few seconds, before starting to laugh. "I'm nothing like you!" The bluenette cackled. "If I were, I'd be hanging from a cliff like you are!" The laughing ceased, "But, I can see that you aren't going to answer my questions without incentive." He snapped his fingers. "So here's your incentive."

Davis turned his head away from the Emperor when he heard the rumbling. Directly in front of him, part of the cliff face moved away like doors, and a slab of rock with Veemon bound to it came zooming up to replace it.

"Veemon!" Davis cried out in horror.

"Davish!" Veemon smiled weakly. "They got me…"

"You've got to become Flamedramon again!" The maroon haired boy yelled.

The Digimon Emperor started to laugh again, holding up Davis' Digivice. "Won't you need this to pull that off?"

* * *

><p>"Ah!" Cody gasped. "My Digivice is reacting to something."<p>

"Huh. Mine isn't." Kari remarked, looking at her Digivice. "And neither are the others. I wonder what yours could be detecting that ours aren't Cody."

"Mine is too!" Yelled Yolei, waving her Digivice around franticly. "Is it something bad?"

"Maybe it's your partners?" Agumon suggested. "After all, you two don't have them yet."

Izzy nodded. "That's as good a guess as any Agumon." He looked at his partner and raised his voice. "What's directly below us Kabuterimon?"

"A building of some kind." The giant insect rumbled. "Do you want me to take us down?"

"If something in there is making their Digivices go off, it's got to be important." Sora said. "And the Digivices haven't led us wrong before."

"Well then," Izzy smiled. "What are we waiting for? Take us down Kabuterimon."

"You too, Angemon." TK said.

And with that, they descended to the top of the building that was causing the new Digivices to react. After the people they were carrying got off, the Champion level flyers were consumed by a soft yellow light, that faded away to reveal the two had reverted back to their Rookie forms.

The six humans and the four Digimon entered the building, following the signals from Yolei and Cody's Digivices to in order to find what was making the new Digivices react.

As they walked, the beeping got louder and louder, until they reached the top of a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs, the beeping became more frantic, and the group saw that there were two objects atop a plinth. One of the objects was silver, while the other was yellow.

"Our Digivices are reacting to these objects." Cody reasoned. "But what are the symbols on them?"

"The silver one has the Crest of Love on it." Sora smiled.

"While the yellow one is emblazoned with the Crest of Knowledge." Izzy noted.

The high school students looked at each other and each pulled on the object with their crest on, but the objects remained rooted to the plinth.

"I can't." Sora breathed.

"It's too heavy." Izzy murmured, and the two of them turned to Yolei and Cody. "You two try."

"M- me…?" Yolei stuttered.

"O-okay." Cody nodded.

The lavender haired girl placed gripped the silver object, while the brown haired boy grasped the yellow one. The two of them pulled, and to everyone's surprise, the objects lifted easily from the plinth they had been situated on.

"They could lift them." Kari said in surprise.

TK nodded. "Just like Davis and the egg yesterday."

Red and purple light shot out from where the objects had been situated, an in the midst of the light, two creatures formed. In the red light, a red bird with a belt around his head, and in the purple light, a yellow armadillo. The bird and the armadillo opened their eyes, and jumped out of the light to the floor.

The six humans and the Digimon who hadn't just jumped out of light stared at the newcomers with unblinking eyes, surprised by what had happened.

"My name is Hawkmon." The red bird bowed to Yolei, and spoke with a surprisingly deep voice. "I've been waiting for you."

Yolei stared. "W-wait…"

The yellow armadillo yawned. "I slept well." He opened his eyes and looked at Cody. "Are you the one who woke me up?" Without waiting for an answer, the mammal Digimon continued on. "My name is Armadillomon. Thanks for waking me up."

"Y-yes." Cody murmured, still shocked by the events that had transpired.

"Lifter of the DigiEgg of Love, we will fight together!" The red bird declared, smiling broadly.

"W-wait a second!" The lavender haired girl yelled. "I can't fight!"

At those words, the smile dropped from the birds face. "That is a problem."

Sora placed her hands around the younger girls, smiling.

"While your help would speed things up," The elder girl said. "You don't have to fight if you don't want to." Yolei blinked. "We'll find a way to remove the Emperor from his seat of power, and when we do, you can come here and spend time with Hawkmon in peace. You might have been chosen to help out, but if you don't want to, we won't force you to."

Next to the girls, Izzy turned to Cody. "That goes for you too, if you don't want to fight, you don't have to."

"I don't want to fight." Cody admitted. "But I want to know more about this world, its inhabitants, and if I help you fight, I'll get that knowledge through experience, and then I think I'd understand it better."

Yolei nodded. "I might not want to fight either, but I can't just stand by and let someone enslave sentient beings. And if the fighting gets to be too much for me to handle, then I'll find some other way to help out."

"Now, activate your Digi-Eggs by saying 'DigiArmour Energize!'" Hawkmon commanded.

The two nodded, and yelled in unison. "DIGIARMOUR ENERGIZE!" The Digi-Eggs they held erupted into light and entered their Digivices, which fired the light at each persons Digimon partner.

Hawkmon disappeared in a beam of red light, exclaiming as it covered him "**Hawkmon Armour Digivolve to…**" When the light faded, a large griffin wearing a helmet that was the same shape as the Digi-Egg used to evolve Hawkmon had taken the small birds place. "**Halsemon, the Wings of Love!**" The griffin finished.

A purple beam enveloped Armadillomon, who bellowed "**Armadillomon Armour Digivolve to…**" as it did so. When the light faded, a yellow insect with drills for a nose and fingers had replaced the armadillo. "**Digmon, the Drill of Knowledge!**" The insect completed.

As Yolei and Cody gaped at their Digimon, Gatomon punched her paw. "Let's take the fight to the Emperor and find Davis."

* * *

><p>"Give me my Digivice back!" Davis roared at the bluenette. "Let Veemon go!"<p>

The Emperor smirked. "You haven't answered my questions about what these 'crests' are, or how you got your Digimon to Digivolve."

"I don't know what these crests are, and I don't know how Veemon was able to Digivolve either!"

The tyrant sighed. "Well, if you insist on this charade, I'll just have to add another incentive." He clicked his fingers again, and a Dark Ring floated down from the sky and moved slowly toward Veemon.

"Stop it!" Davis cried, scared that his friend might become another slave for this monster.

"Tell me how you got your Digimon to Digivolve, and what a crest is, and I might consider letting the both of you go."

"But I don't know those things!"

The Emperor shrugged. "Then I get a new slave, and I'll have to kidnap someone who does know something about those things."

"You're free to try." Veemon spat. "But there's no way I'm becoming your slave!"

"And why not?" The Emperor questioned, glaring down at the blue lizard.

"I waited a long time to meet Davish, so why would I become your slave now that I've met him?" The blue lizard glared right back.

"Veemon…" Davis murmured weakly.

The bluenette's face twisted into a dark expression. "Is that so?"

"**Eagle Eye!**" Just before the ring could touch Veemon, two beams of red light cut into the ring, causing it to lose power, and it fell into the canyon below.

"WHAT?" The Emperor roared, his face becoming even more twisted in his fury.

"Davis!" Yolei cried, as Halsemon flew through the canyon, the lavender haired girl on the griffins back.

"Yolei!" Davis called back, thankful that her Digimon had prevented a Dark Ring from ensnaring Veemon.

The rock face Veemon was chained to began to crack, and then fell apart, and Digmon flew out of a tunnel, Veemon held in his vestigial arms.

"We're here to save you guys!" The insect declared, and Veemon nodded in thanks,

The Digimon Emperor gave a snort of derision, and turned to leave, but paused when he saw Gatomon, Agumon, Kabuterimon and Angemon and their partners in his way.

Angemon planted his staff into the earth, and stared at the tyrant. "You won't get past us."

A green worm leapt out and stood between the three champions and the Emperor. "I won't let you touch Ken!" It declared, and jumped at his adversaries.

Agumon rolled his eyes, and responded by smashing his claw into its face, sending the worm sprawling back into the bluenette tyrant. The impact made the boy stumble, and he dropped Davis' Digivice into the canyon, where Yolei grabbed it.

"Thank you!" The girl called cheerfully,

The Emperor gritted his teeth, and smacked his whip into the ground. "Slaves, attack!"

Snimon and Birdramon rose into the sky, and hovered over the canyon, Mojyamon emerged from between two large rocks and Drimogemon exited a cave.

At the bottom of the canyon, Yolei handed Davis his Digivice. "Here."

Davis grinned. "Thanks!" He looked at Veemon. "Ready?"

Veemon grinned back. "Yep. You're gonna have to say 'DigiArmour Energize this time though."

The maroon haired boy blinked, but raised his Digivice into the air and yelled "DigiArmour Energize!", and orange light consumed Veemon once more.

"**Veemon Armour Digivolve to… Flamedramon, the Fire of Courage!**"

Snimon flew at the three champions before the Emperor, but Kabuterimon left his position of blocking the Emperor, thinking that his friends could deal with the Emperor without him, and slammed the other insect into the wall of the canyon. Seeing this, Birdramon gave a shriek, and flew down into the canyon herself.

"Yolei, it would be safer for you if you got of my back." Halsemon warned, and after his partner did so, took to the sky himself, meeting Birdramon head on.

"Break the black rings, and you free the Digimon from the Emperors control!" Flamedramon yelled, before turning to face Mojyamon.

"Understood." Halsemon called back, "**Eagle Eye!" **He fired two beams of red energy from his eyes at Birdramon chest. This merely annoyed the giant bird, but she turned her attention away from Kabuterimon to the griffin.

Digmon and Drimogemon dug into the earth, both of them planning to have an underground battle, while Mojyamon and Flamedramon stared each other down.

"**Ice Blow!**" An icicle appeared in the Yeti's hand, and he hurled it at Flamedramon

"Fire against ice..." The Armour Digimon chuckled, "**Flame Fist!" **One of his claws burst into flame, which he used to grab the icicle, which quickly melted.

"**Bone Boomerang!" **The enslaved Mojyamon was already following up with its boomerang, which Flamedramon leapt high into the air to avoid, and pointed his claws at his opponent.

"**Flame Fist!**" Fireballs erupted out of Flamedramon's claws and hurtled towards Mojyamon. All of the fire balls hit the yeti in the chest, and while they made it stagger backwards, none of them had damaged the Dark Ring. Thinking quickly, the Armour Digimon shouted, "**Fire Rocket!**" An aura of fire burst into existence around him, and he tore through the air, aiming right at his opponent's wrist.

"**Bone Boomerang!**" The Mojyamon threw his boomerang at the descending Flamedramon, who span in mid air to avoid it, the attack not hindering his flight plan in the slightest.

When he reached the yeti, Flamedramon was backhanded into the canyon wall, and fell to the ground, slightly winded, but his plan had worked – Mojyamon had backhanded him with the arm that had a Dark Ring on, so said Dark Ring had taken the full force of the flames, and was now sparking with black electricity, and its wearer was writhing in pain.

"**Flame Fist!**" More fireballs were shot, but the Yeti was moving so much that only one of them connected, and the force of the blow wasn't strong enough to break it. Flamedramon gritted his teeth and ran forwards, coating one of his claws in fire.

"**Flame Fist!**" The second he got close enough, he rammed his burning claw into the Dark Ring, which shattered, though the blast of power that it released was enough to send Flamedramon sprawling backwards, and when he landed, he had reverted back to Veemon.

* * *

><p>"<strong>Meteor Wing!<strong>" In the sky, Birdramon fired a volley of fireballs of Halsemon, who did a barrel roll to dodge. This did not deter his foe, who continued to release wave after wave of flames. Halsemon found it harder and harder to avoid being burnt the closer he got, and eventually had to resort to using his own attacks to clear a hole in the fire to pass through. When he finally reached the other side of the flames, Birdramon had disappeared. As the griffon blinked, and searched for his foe, a talon swooped down from the air and grasped the Armour Digimon around the middle, crushing him.

Halsemon craned his neck to look at the face of his foe, and wheezed out "**Udjat Gaze!**" Two yellow circles were released from the griffon's eyes, and Birdramon became dazed when they collided with her face, relaxing her grip enough that the Armour Digimon could break free.

"**Mach Impulse!**" With his foe locked into place, Halsemon released blades of energy from his wings, which cut into the sides of Birdramon's Dark Ring, but did not break it completely.

"**Tempest Wing!**" Halsemon span himself into a tornado and shot forwards, gathering speed as he went. The maelstrom the griffin had become tore into the Dark Ring, and shattered it. With the Dark Ring gone, soft yellow light covered Birdramon, and shrank her into a small, dazed looking pink bird.

* * *

><p>Drimogemon crawled through the ground, his nose drill digging him a path, when he broke into a tunnel, at the other end of which stood Digmon. The purple mole roared a challenge and charged at his opponent, his nose drill spinning rapidly.<p>

"**Gold Rush!**" Digmon called in answer, and all five of the Armour Digimon's drills flew out at the slave. All five buried themselves into Drimogemon's body, but none of them had hit the Dark Ring, and while the mole slowed down slightly, it did not show any other signs of discomfort.

Digmon leered at his opponent, and more drills appeared to replace the ones used in his previous attack. "**Rock Crackin'!**" The yellow Digimon reared backwards, and slammed all of his drills into the ground. The tunnel began to crack, and the charging Drimogemon's feet broke the ground apart, trapping it in place. Seizing his opportunity, Digmon flew over the broken earth, and slammed all five drills into the Dark Ring. It sparked, shocking the two, and the writhing mole hit the Armour Digimon with his nose drill, slamming the insect into a wall.

Digmon groaned in pain, but stumbled forwards and readied himself. "**Gold Rush!**" The yellow insect shot his drills at the mole again and this time, they all connected with the Dark Ring. It splintered apart and dark lightning arced about the tunnel, hurting both Digimon, but when it faded, the red glow that signified the Emperor's control was gone from the Drimogemon's eyes.

* * *

><p>Kabuterimon drove Snimon further into the canyon wall, and used his two lower arms to try and tear the Dark Ring off of his opponent. The green insect had other plans, and slammed his face into the blue insects jaw. This dazed Kabuterimon slightly and loosened his grip enough for the enslaved Digimon to free his scythes.<p>

"**Twin Sickles!**" Scythes free, the preying mantis released waves of pink energy towards the Rhinoceros Beetles chest at point blank range, separating the two Digimon.

The preying mantis Digimon roared, and flew at his opponent, coating his scythes in green energy as he did so. In response, Kabuterimon crossed all four of his arms over his chest, and curled his body slightly. Purple lightning began to spark beneath the blue insect's arms, and when Snimon got close enough, the rhinoceros beetle spread his arms wide.

"**Electro Shocker!**" With that cry, a huge sphere of electricity shot out from Kabuterimon's body, aimed right at Snimon. The green insect stopped its charge and tried to dodge, but it was too late, and the electric ball consumed the preying mantis. Shrieks sounded from inside the sphere, and just as they stopped, black lightning dispersed Kabuterimon's attack, leaving behind a ringless Snimon.

* * *

><p>The Digimon Emperor turned back to face the Digimon meant to stop him from leaving, and placed a foot on the prone from of the green worm. "Not bad." He commented. "It wouldn't be fun otherwise, but still."<p>

Kari frowned. "What do you-" She was interrupted by the tyrant pressing a button on his Digivice. This turned the Emperor and the worm into a cloud of black smoke, which flew away from the canyon.

"He can teleport." TK grumbled.

Izzy placed a hand on his shoulder. "Next time we know he can do it, so we'll be prepared."

* * *

><p>"Are you alright? Sorry, but we had no choice." Veemon apologized to the freed slaves.<p>

"It's fine." The Snimon waved of his concerns. "That pain is nothing compared to being Digimon Emperor's slave."

As three of the freed slaves wandered off, Davis began to fume. "That Digimon Emperor." He growled. "We'll get him next time."

"Will you fight with me, Yolei?" Hawkmon asked his partner.

"Sure." She agreed. "We do have to help out."

"I'm looking forward to working with you again, Cody." Armadillomon said to his partner.

"I look forward to it too." Cody nodded back.

Nearby, the older DigiDestined watched. "I'm sure they'll do their best to help us out." Izzy said, smiling at the three newest DigiDestined.

"SORA!" A cry sounded through the air, and the pink bird Birdramon had turned into came bombing down right at the red-headed girl. "I can't believe it's you!"

Sora met her partner in a hug. "I've missed you too, Biyomon."

Yolei frowned. "But that's what Birdramon turned into after Halsemon freed her."

"Not all of us were lucky enough to escape the Emperor." Agumon grimaced. "Three of our friends are still enslaved."

Cody and Yolei stared at Agumon in horror, and Davis punched his fists together.

"Let's go home." TK said. "There's nothing more we can do today, and our families will start to worry if we aren't back home soon."

* * *

><p>Back in his base, the Digimon Emperor grinned as he looked through pages of all the Digimon he had enslaved. <em>"What Digimon shall I play with tomorrow?"<em>

* * *

><p>"Mr Fujiyama just doesn't stop talking." Tai groaned as he walked back into the computer room just in time to see everyone fall out of the computer screen into a heap. "Is everyone alright?"<p>

"Yes." Was the response of all thirteen of them.

Tai blinked. "The Digimon came too!?"

"We didn't mean to bring them," Cody said. "They just followed us." He stared at the yellow blob in front of him. "But some of them got smaller."

The yellow blob stared back. "I'm Upamon now!"

"And I'm Demiveemon!" A much smaller Veemon declared.

"Poromon." The pink feathery ball in Yolei's arms murmured.

"They must have gone back to the In-Training level." Kari said.

"But we didn't change." Patamon noted, sitting on the desk.

"Maybe that's because we've been in the Real World before." Agumon suggested.

Izzy climbed out of the pile. "I'm going to find out more about the Dark Rings the Emperor uses." The red-headed boy took a broken Dark Ring out of his jacket. "It's the one that Halsemon broke, and I'm going to run some tests on it to see if I can find out anything that will help us."

Tentomon chuckled. "Izzy, you haven't changed one bit."

Tai nodded. "Anything you can find out will be a help, I'm sure." He leaned down, and helped his sister to her feet. "But we still have to get home, and we'd better hurry up too, or dinner will be cold."

"I'd hate to be a bother to anyone." Sora yelled. "But would everybody get off me please!"


End file.
